Not all custom suits are made equally
Three Things to Look for in a Custom Suit Maker
I don’t want this post to be a rant but seriously there's been a rise of custom suit makers in the last few years. Its become over-saturated. It’s not really a big deal if the consumer knows exactly what he’s getting for his money but the vast majority don’t have enough knowledge of great tailoring to tell the difference between a great piece of suit making and a mediocre one.
A great custom suit is a combination of artistry in pattern making, skill of tailoring and creative design.
Here are three things to consider when buying a custom suit
1. The person doing the measurements:
This is where it all starts, the measurements are the basis of a great well-made suit but accurate measurements is only half the battle. While some places use laser digital scanners to take a client’s measurements the skill of custom suit making actually starts with translating accurate raw measurements into a pattern for your suit. Fact is any one set of measurements can be translated into an infinite number of suit cuts. This is the most important part of suit making. No matter how fine the materials are or how well made the suit is, if it doesn’t fit you well and isn’t cut for your body its gonna look like S#!T.
2. Quality of the tailoring:
Judge a tailor by his work. That’s a pretty simple statement but surprisingly it’s one of the most difficult things to do. Most of us just aren’t schooled enough to tell the difference between a cheap BS Chinese made custom suit, A Trained and skilled Shanghainese Custom tailor, A master Savile Row Tailor or A traditional Milanese Tailor. There are vast differences between the four but I’ll give you one guess which one is the most prevalent in the Los Angeles market and is a total waste of your hard earned money.
Chinese custom suits are made by untrained and overworked tailors. There is no deiscernible pedigree to their work and very little hand workmanship is used. Buying a Suit at H&M for $50 is basically the same thing.
Tell-tale signs:
· Shoulder work- Cheap suits have soft, “puffy” feeling shoulders. They tend to use pillowy cotton shoulder pads that feel and look lumpy. A well-made shoulder has a firm smooth feel to it and creates a clean straight shoulder line.
· Cheap Plastic Buttons- Quality suit buttons can cost upwards of $4-5 a button. Cheap buttons are around 0.10-0.20 cents.
· Flat clean stitching- Inspect his samples. Are the seams flat, clean and ripple free? Are there strings, lose stitches or gaps in the stitch? These are all tell-tale signs of a poorly made suit
3. Presentation:
This is probably the newest way to tell if you are dealing with a real suit maker…how does he show his work on his social media? Does he have pictures of his actual work? Do the pictures look good? The best way to tell if they make a great suit is to see pictures of past work. If you go on their IG or FB and find generic stock photos or even worse stolen photos and motivational memes run as far away as possible, you’re going to end up with a poorly made suit.